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Topic: do waiters chase you if you don't tip in america? (Read 22235 times)

well, i live in the UK so tipping isn't something you do unless you received phenomenal service, over here it's become a running joke that if you don't tip waiters in america they will do anything short of kidnapping you to get you to pay extra. what is with the obsession with tipping? surely you just pay the price of the food on the menu, i mean, i know waiters are paid badly but don't they receive minimum wage? and do waiters really hunt you down if you don't pay up? i'm really curious if it's true as it's not something we do here

Sometimes, yes, they do hunt you down in the parking lot/way out of the resturant but it is pretty rare.

No, they do not really get a minumum wage. Some jobs flat out tell you, you are working for tips. They do have to make up your pay rate if you make less than minumum wage but in reality that rarely happens.

We did have one instance at a high end restaurant. My boss was in from The Netherlands and he left a 10% tip on the check after a really great dinner. The manager came by to politely ask if there had been a problem with service. We said "No, everything was great. Why?" and he mentioned the tip which is considered low and a method of indicating your displeasure. We explained US tipping rules to my boss and we all got a good laugh. Of course, then he realized how many other waiters he'd been short changing in his 3 yrs of traveling back and forth. But after 10 visits and countless dinners out, this was the first time any waiter or management had commented to him about the low tip.

Our menu prices are usually lower in price than you'd find in other countries but you just know that you'll be adding about 20% of the food cost to the tab.

I have ever seen a waiter chase anyone else. But once, a bit drunk and splitting a check with a friend (but me doing all the math), we shorted the waiter and only have a 10% tip. He very politely approached before we left and asked if he'd done something wrong. I said no and asked why he asked. He said "well usually people tip at least 18%..." and I was mortified of my own error, I assured him all was good and we each doubled our tip to leave him 20% - which is what we'd intended on giving him!

In some states waitstaff are paid minimum wage but not in most. And honestly... its extraordinarily difficult to live on minimum wage even if is what someone is paid. Usually a standard 40 hour week is not going to cut it, and people on minimum wage almost never have things like paid sick days or paid vacation time, or particularly good health insurance, etc, so not only are they making very little they are in more need of savings as a safety cushion.

The way I look at it is - no one needs the luxury of being waited on. One can go to a grocery store, or even a self-service eatery, to get the food necessary for life. Going to a restaurant with table service is a luxury, a small one but a luxury none the less, and its awfully stingy to be cheap about tipping when you are already engaging in luxury behavior.

No, they don't get minimum wage. They get somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 an hour if they are tipped. That's why the obsession - it's more like commission sales than cashier, really.

Most won't chase you, but I have had one scream across the room at me - he hadn't known that I had put a cash tip on the table, and just saw the 0.00 tip on the credit card slip, and got angry.

I would have been sorely tempted to take back the cash!

I was. What's worse, I was dining alone, and there is some assumption that single diners are horrible tippers. I'm actually the opposite - I overtip, sometimes in the 30% range, depending on the service and the total of the check (I won't leave less than $2, ever, unless the service is just awful).

However, yes. They can chase you into the parking lot. Had it happen to me and a group of people I was with. I don't know what happened - whether part of the tip wasn't visible to him on the table or if he truly felt that it wasn't enough, but we had a waiter chase us. It was incredibly embarrassing.

I was a cocktail waitress during college and I chased a patron down to give him his money back...

I had waited on him, wife and another couple all evening and it was fetch me this and bring me that - very demanding. I was expecting a large tip and he left a DIME on the table, I chased him down and told him he must need it more than I did. My boss was not only okay with this but encouraged it. I don't believe that group ever graced us with their presence again.

My understanding has always been that leaving two pennies indicates poor service.

I tip 15-25% and if service is bad I let the waitperson know it. Sometimes it is not their fault (kitchen lost the order, ran out of lobster, etc), I know they rely on their tips for wages and I almost always go ABOVE and BEYOND the norm. If I am entertaining a large group and the restaurant adds 18% I will almost always add another 7% I think large groups are just naturally demanding.

A waiter/waitress can get into trouble for chasing you down for a tip if you complain to the restaurant management.

Many years ago DH and I went out for an anniversary dinner. We had a very expensive dinner and DH left a VERY high tip (in the neighborhood of 25%). Apparently someone stole the tip off the table before the waiter got there. As we were leaving the restaurant a waiter (not the one who served us) chased us to the door and angrily and insultingly chastised us for not tipping. DH said, "If $___ isn't good enough for you I'm sorry."

Since I frequented that restaurant often I later spoke to the manager. The waiter who chased us was fired. I believe the restaurant did investigate the missing tip and it turned out a bus boy was occasionally taking the higher tips off the table. He was fired but still lucky he wasn't turned in to the police. Stealing tips was a federal offense (I don't know if it still is) since it is considered stealing wages.

There is a separate minimum wage for people who receive tips. As someone said earlier, it is about $2/hr. The tips are supposed to make up the rest of the wage and you are supposed to declare them when you file your income taxes.

I used to be a waitress and I had to chase down someone who skipped out on a check more than once. Many people don't realize that if they skip out on the check the restaurant can (and often does) deduct the amount from the paycheck of the waiter/waitress. I once had two women come in with their children for a birthday celebration, cake and all. They skipped out on the check and the amount was so large that the restaurant manager split it into five parts so I wouldn't have to go without a complete paycheck.

Ah. A good idea to always put the tip on the credit card (if used), to avoid theft, then.

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